Closed tung closed 10 years ago
As a further balancing act, when dropped, I'd make glowsticks only light up the tile they're on, lightstrips light up all adjacent tiles, and atomic nightlights light up the adjacent 2 tiles. Atomic nightlights are clearly the best choice, but they're balanced by being uncraftable and rare. Glowsticks are near useless, and relatively uncommon. They could be made to be used for reading but not crafting, or vice versa, or something could be added to all light sources to distract zombies when thrown.
Glowsticks are supposed to be mostly worthless. Restricting them to only illuminating the current tile would be about right.
I have read by glowstick while camping. It is doable. Probably not enough light to craft by though. I currently use glowsticks to mark dangerous locations in game, like doors with turrets behind them while exploring labs.
So, thoughts on reducing lightstrip charges from 8000 (66 2/3 days) down to 900 (7.5 days)?
I am in favor of it.
For 15 batteries, lightstrips get 8000 charges, and since 120 charges are used every 24 hours, they end up lasting 66 2/3 days, or well over a year with default season lengths! As they stand, lightstrips are effectively atomic nightlights without the volume or weight downsides.
See also #404 where lightstrips were intended to provide just over 5 days of light, and #5985 for their how they were intended to fare against glowsticks (lightstrips were meant to last a short time but give lots of light, glowsticks were meant to last a long time but give only a bit of light).
I suggest changing lightstrip charges from 8000 to 900, which makes them last 7.5 days, divides nicely into the 15 batteries (so 60 charges for 1 battery), and gives players a reason to occasionally gather stuff to make them without requiring lots of micromanagement.
Speaking of glowsticks, are they working as intended right now? Last time I used them, they didn't give enough light to craft things at night even after they had just been activated.